More importantly, the semifinal-round win allows Texas Southern to claim the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA tournament, regardless of the result of Saturday's conference championship game. Southern, which beat Alabama State in the other semifinal, is ineligible for the NCAA postseason. It will be the second straight trip to the NCAA tournament for the Tigers, who now have won 11 straight.

The NCAA ruled that Southern University submitted inaccurate and incomplete data on student-athlete academic progress and all teams were ruled ineligible for post-season play.